New publication

Thursday, 21 July 2011

Does The Queen wear her crown in bed, and who walks the corgis when she’s busy? Those are the sort of details children really want to know about life at Buckingham Palace.

Inspired by the many questions that children have asked her, Marion McAuley, a former Head of Education at the Royal Collection, decided to provide the answers in the Royal Household’s first children’s book about The Queen’s London home. In this 32-page book, illustrated by Katy Sleight, a footman guides two children around the Palace, explaining The Queen’s most important duties – and what you should do if you meet her.

The children find crowns all over the Palace – on picture frames, on ceilings and even on uniforms worn by staff. They discover which small crown The Queen wears on stamps – and that it has 1,333 diamonds in it. They throw balls for some of The Queen’s dogs, which are walked by footmen when she is hard at work, and find out what their names are. They have tea in the Palace garden, where they discover that during the famous Garden Parties around 45,000 sandwiches are eaten.

Marion McAuley said ‘The inspiration for the title and indeed much of the content comes from the real questions we are asked by children. We hope the book will help them understand better how Buckingham Palace functions as a home, an office and a palace.’

Jemima Rellie, Director of Publishing and New Media at the Royal Collection, said ‘Children perhaps more than any other age group are fascinated by kings and queens, but most of the information that is readily available to them is fiction. We hope this book will complement these other offerings by showing children what the real Queen does, today.’

Does The Queen Wear Her Crown in Bed? is written for children aged 5 to 8 and is published by the Royal Collection, price £3.95.